Cavs: Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Delonte West Bulls: Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons Sonics: Chris Duhon, Ira Newble, Donyell Marshall According to ESPN radio Credit: MikeDC This is bad news for us if we face the Cavs in the first round. Hughes was never playing for them anyways. Now they have a bulky front court with Big Z and Big Ben, and two good role players in West and Smith. Plus a great shooter for LeBron to drive and dish to.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Feb 21 2008, 04:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did the Cavs really improve that much?</div> Enough to scare mid-level East teams like ours, I reckon.
I still don't think they're close to being a championship contender, I still put them behind Boston and Detroit. Basically, I still lump them in the mid level teams of the East.
Seems like the Cavs got a bit thinner in the frontcourt. Wally's going to play SG? The guy can really shoot, but not really much else. Cavs minus three forwards, get back two. Four man frontcourt rotation doesn't seem that bad, perhaps upgraded: LeBron, Wallace, Z, Smith
isn't wally an expiring contract, they can use that money in free agency, plus he isn't bad. I don't get Ben wallace, don't they already have Big Z, Ben is very overpaid.
Idunno. I personally think it'll be easier to guard Zydrunas now that they have an offensive liability paired up next to him. We're still a bad matchup with the Cavs though (Lebron owns us).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Chutney @ Feb 21 2008, 04:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Idunno. I personally think it'll be easier to guard Zydrunas now that they have an offensive liability paired up next to him. We're still a bad matchup with the Cavs though (Lebron owns us).</div> Yeah, I don't think Z and Ben compliment each other at all. This is a marginal upgrade at best.
I don't think the Cavs got much better. They got themselves a much needed shooter in Wally, as well as an upgrade at the PG with Delonte, but they also got the cancer in Wallace, who is a huge liability offensively and might hamper the production of big Z. I'll say they improved because they did get some scoring help, but Wallace doesn't do anything for them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Denny Crane @ Feb 21 2008, 04:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Seems like the Cavs got a bit thinner in the frontcourt. Wally's going to play SG? The guy can really shoot, but not really much else. Cavs minus three forwards, get back two. Four man frontcourt rotation doesn't seem that bad, perhaps upgraded: LeBron, Wallace, Z, Smith</div> You're forgetting about Anderson Varejao. That's a very solid front court. Marshall doesn't contribute a damn thing at this point, so losing him doesn't matter. In the frontcourt, they basically traded Gooden for Big Ben and Smith. Not too shabby. It will be very fun watching Wally try to defend the East's 2-guards. Oh man, oh man...
I know I'm raining on Cavs fans parades but I don't really see the big deal. This team needed an upgrade offensively, Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiack are very talented role-players but aren't legitimate scoring options for a playoff team. Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes provide little less of a scoring punch than these guys. Only difference is more of a perimiter shooting prescence. They improved slightly, but they're still no where near Detroit/Boston. The Cavs have no chance of getting past the second round unless LeBron pulls off another playoff miracle.
I like this trade for the Cavs. They don't improve a ton but they do improve. They were getting horrible production out of Hughes, Wally is a huge upgrade over him. Wally isn't a go-to scorer but he'll thrive playing off of Lebron. I think you guys are forgetting hes averaged 15 ppg for his career on 41% from 3. He'll fit in very well next to LeBron. Like someone else said, all he does is shoot, but at least thats one more thing than Larry Hughes did. Ben Wallace seems like an awkward fit because he'll have to play PF next to Big Z. Varejao is also somewhat Big Ben like. Even though he's a shell of his former self hes still good for 10 rpg and 1-2 bpg. He'll become more valuable if/when they face a team in the POs with a good low post threat (not many of those in the east though). If, miraculously, they make it back to the finals he'll be valuable because the opposing team is sure to have a Shaq/Amare/Gasol/Bynum/Boozer/Yao and he can still defend very well on the ball. You lose some offense at the PF position by swapping him for Gooden. Hopefully he can have more of an impact on defense, give them a nice shotblocking threat and even some more leadership. The big underrated acquisitions in this trade are Joe Smith and Delonte West. Smith was excellent scoring the ball for Chicago this year. He can shoot from mid-range very well, pick and roll, even finish on the inside a bit. Hes nothing special but hes a very solid player to have coming off the bench. I think hes been underrated the last few seasons and probably one of the better backup big men a team could ask for. West is another solid bench guy. Hes a nice scorer, shoots it well, plays good defense, pushes the tempo, hes not a pure PG but can make some nice passes. You can play him at the 1 or 2. Basically Hughes-Wally is an upgrade. Hughes was really bad for the Cavs. Wally can at least shoot the rock, get some pressure off of Bron and hopefully give 15 points a night. Gooden Ben Wallace is a wash, they've got different skillsets but ultimately have about the same value (not takign contracts into account). The added quality of depth in Joe Smith and Delonte West makes me like this trade though. The Cavs will have a starting lineup of Booby, Wally, Bron, Big Ben, Big Z with a bench of Delonte West, Pavlovic, Joe Smith, Varejao. Thats a good 9 deep in rotation players there and all they had to give up was Gooden, Hughes (terrible contract) and a bunch of guys who didn't play or only played because they had no one else. Also, Wally's 13 Mil contract expires after next season. That could be a valuable trading chip in getting a star player.
